India’s youthful exuberance set to pose strong challenge to Afghanistan in T20I opener
The Men in Blue return to action after a brief hiatus as they are all set to lock horns against Afghanistan. In what will be an intriguing affair, this T20I series played in India will be hosted by Afghanistan and the Men in Blue will be hopeful of getting off to a victorious start.
In the shortest format of the game, Team India will be coming off the back of a triumphant outing against Zimbabwe, where they secured the bragging rights of the series by 3-0. Afghanistan, on the contrary, will be coming to this clash on the back of their World Cup campaign in the shortest format of the game, where they concluded the group stages with a thumping victory over Canada.
In terms of their recent exploits, India secured a fine series win against Sri Lanka in Tests, winning it 1-0 while Afghanistan had a brilliant showdown against Ireland, securing a 4-0 victory in a five-match ODI series. One can expect this series to be a beginning of a new cricketing journey for Afghanistan while India will have a lot of expectations pinned on their young brigade.
Venue Watch:
Delhi’s surface has always been conducive for the seamers with a bit of extra bounce on offer. The new ball will also be moving around significantly, especially when the lacquer is on. As the game wears on, batting would become relatively easier but spinners will also some turn on offer unless there is dew to offset the equation.
Match details:
Match: Afghanistan vs India, 1st T20I
Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
Date: 13th September, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM IST
Head-to-head:
Matches played – 9
India – 0
Afghanistan - 0
Squads:
India:
Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur.
Afghanistan:
Ibrahim Zadran (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Noor Rahman (WK), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Abdullah Ahmadzai and Naveen-ul-Haq.
